Camp-Colors, are a small sort of colors placed on the right and left of the parade of a regiment when in the field; one or two to each company; they are 18 inches square, and of the color of the facing of the regiment, with the number of the regiment upon them. The poles to be 7 feet 6 inches long, except those of the quarter and rear-guards, which are to be 9 feet. See [Bannerolls].
Color-guard. See [Guard].
Colors, used in the drawings of fortification. It is necessary to use colors in the drawings of plans and profiles of a fortification, in order to distinguish every particular part, and separate, as it were, the one from the other, so as to make their difference more sensible. The different sorts of colors, generally used in these kinds of drawings, are, Indian-ink, carmine, verdigrease, sap-green, gum-bouge, Prussian blue, indigo, and umber.
Indian-ink is the first and most necessary thing required in drawing; for it serves, in drawing the lines, to express hills or rising grounds, and, in short, for all what is called shading in drawings. The best sort of Indian ink is of a bluish black, soft and easily reduced into a liquid, free from sand or gravel. It is made in oblong squares. The manner of liquefying it, is by putting a little clear water into a shell or tea-cup, and rubbing it gently ’till the water is black, and of a consistence much like common ink: when it is used for drawing lines, it must be made very black, though not too thick, otherwise it will not easily flow out of the camel hair pencil; but when it is for shading, it must be pale, so as to go over the same shade several times, which adds a beauty to the shading.
Carmine, is an impalpable powder, and the fairest red we know of: it serves for coloring the sections of masonry, the plans of houses, and all kinds of military buildings; as likewise their elevation; but then it is made of a paler color. It is also used for drawing red lines in plans, to represent walls. It is of a high price, but a little will go a great way. It must be mixed with a little gum-water.
Verdigrease, or sea-green, used in drawings, is either liquid in small phials, or mixed in little pots or shells, &c. it serves to color wet ditches, rivers, seas, and in general to represent all watery places; it is most soluble in vinegar; and mixed with vinegar makes a fine green ink.
Sap-green, is a stone of a faint yellowish green, when liquefied with clear water: but when mixed with a little sea green, it makes a beautiful grass-green; but, as all mixed colors are liable to fade, if verdigrease can be had, it will be much better. Sap-green is very cheap.
Gum-bouge, is a fine yellow gum. It may be dissolved in water, but requires no other gum: it serves to color all projects of works; as likewise to distinguish the works unfinished from those that are complete. It serves also to color the trenches of an attack.
Indigo, is in small cakes, and very cheap; it serves to color iron, and roofs of buildings which are covered with slates: it must be well ground upon a smooth stone or glass, and mixed with a little gum-water.
Prussian blue, is a kind of friable substance of an exceeding fine blue: it is used to represent the color of blue cloth in drawing encampments, battles, &c. It must be well ground, and mixed with a little gum-water.